RE: PowerPoint "groups" alt text not seen by screen reader

Brian,

I found the same thing, grouping alone doesn't work. I insert all the
images I want in a group. Then I 'save as' that grouped image as a single
image as a PNG (back into my images folder) - and then, re-insert that
image back onto the slide. Then I apply the alt text to that.

Katie Haritos-Shea
703-371-5545

On Aug 28, 2017 10:20 PM, "Chagnon | PubCom" <chagnon@pubcom.com> wrote:

> Generally, A.T. can stumble when we group objects in any of our document
> programs, especially when we want the A.T. to access the Alt-Text. You’ll
> get different results depending upon the A.T., the authoring program, and
> what types of elements are in the group.
>
>
>
> Best Practice:
>
>    - Don’t group elements (or be sure to ungroup them before finalizing
>    the file or exporting to PDF).
>    - Put the Alt-text on just one element and artifact the others.
>
>
>
> Granted, PowerPoint (and M.S. Word) don’t yet allow us to artifact
> elements in their programs, but if you’re exporting to PDF, you can
> artifact them there. Adobe InDesign does, however, allow the designer to
> artifact individual elements in the layout file, and that is carried over
> into the exported PDF. We need similar capability in M.S. Office programs.
>
>
>
> --Bevi Chagnon
>
>
>
> *From:* Brian Stevens [mailto:bstevens@ilsworld.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, August 28, 2017 5:04 PM
> *To:* w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> *Subject:* PowerPoint "groups" alt text not seen by screen reader
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
>
>
> I am making PowerPoint graphics accessible using alt text. Some of them
> are charts that are grouped vector graphics created in PowerPoint, so I
> applied alt text to the group. When I test with NVDA, it reads the text
> elements in the group, but does not read the alt text. NVDA doesn't seem to
> read the alt text on any “groups” in PowerPoint.
>
>
>
> In order to work around this, I saved a rasterized PNG version of the
> graphic to use instead, and added alt text to the PNG. NVDA reads this alt
> text just fine.
>
>
>
> Is it okay for me to rasterize these charts? Is there a better way?
>
>
>
> I'm worried because I've learned that rasterizing text has some
> readability drawbacks when it comes to screen magnification. Is it worth
> the tradeoff? (Rasterizing would also limit translatability...)
>
>
>
> Also, does anyone have experiences with other screen readers not reading
> alt text on PowerPoint groups?
>
>
>
> Many thanks for your help,
>
>
>
> Brian Stevens
>